Grow your investment boutique 📈 Founder / CEO @ Havener ⭐ $30B AUM for boutiques w/ The Billion Dollar Blueprint™ 💲 Story-led sales & marketing for founders, fund mgrs, and teams 🎤 Speaker ▪ Podcast Host

Hi, I’m Stacy - a blue-collar girl from the Berkshires who turned a way with words and love of numbers into a business that has raised billions for boutique asset managers.
 
I’ve raised $8B+ for new/undiscovered funds that led to $30B+ in follow-on AUM.

Being a female founder in the male-dominated investment industry at the age of 30 required a huge leap of faith in connecting two tribes: talented boutique asset managers and early adopter investors.

The leap of faith was spot on. 

10+ years later, Havener Capital Partners leads the industry in helping investment boutiques grow. We help clients in three ways: (1) Embedded as part of your sales and marketing team (2) Consulting on sales and marketing efforts with you (3) Coaching you and your team in our membership community

Whether it’s consulting and masterminds, expanding sales and marketing capabilities, or connecting to our network of RIAs and family offices, clients benefit from an expert team and a time-tested framework that has raised billions for boutiques.

If I can be of assistance, please reach out at stacy@havenercapital.com

A little more about me: 

I’m obsessed with all things old school – hip-hop music, classic cars, craft cocktails and vintage furniture. My best lessons in life were learned on the soccer field where I went from picking flowers at the age of 9, to playing on all-boy teams, to becoming an Academic All-American in college. 

Most days you will find me at our office in the city-by-the sea, Newport, RI, sitting next to my reggae-loving husband (who is also my business partner), with a Dunkin Donuts coffee in my hand, and our rescue pitbull at my feet. In addition to building a business together, Erik and I are raising a daughter which is by far my favorite adventure. 

At the heart of it all, there is one thing I believe in – underdogs. Doesn’t matter who we are or what industry we are in, we all start from the bottom; we have all been underdogs. This rebel spirit fuels me every day.

Stacy Havener

I closed more deals when I stopped trying. 


Don't get me wrong, I worked my tail off to help clients raise money. 

But I had to unlearn a deeply ingrained thing for many of us. 

Let's back up. 

People do business with people they
know
like
and trust

That part we all know.

But there is a danger here 👇

The "liking" principle (from Robert Cialdini)
isn’t about being liked by everyone.

That’s where it goes sideways.

Because when “liking” turns into people-pleasing, a few things happen:

We soften our edges

We dilute our point of view

We spew data and stats like a firehouse 

We aim for approval instead of alignment

And ironically…

That makes us less influential.

Real liking comes from clarity.
From conviction
From standing for something
(and not for everything)

It's from the heart, not the head.
(which is where stories shine)

In our work, we see this all the time:

The most trusted leaders aren’t universally liked

They’re distinctly remembered

They repel a little

And resonate a lot

(gah I love that ❤️ putting it on a post it on my laptop)

That’s how trust is built.
That’s how influence compounds.

🎥 In this video, I unpack how to use the liking principle
without losing your backbone.

Because the goal isn’t to be liked by everyone.
It’s to be unforgettable to the right ones.

📌 "This is me" - can that be a vibe for us this year?

7 days, 20 foot ceilings, and big dreams.


Come inside the mansion we rented for our annual leadership meetings! 

The places, spaces, and settings matter in our stories. 

What would happen if you changed up where you are as you plan for where you are going...

A behind the scenes look at Havener's home base for strategic planning with a mansion walk and talk. 🏰

👉 Have you had this experience where place changed your perspective? Tell me more! 🍿

Here's to a new year, big dreams, and a bright future. Let's go!

Work travel looks glam, but it's a grind. I coped in 1 way v non glam way. 

(There are lessons I am revisiting in 2026 here.)

When I traveled my face off for work, I cooked my face off too. 😂

-- Before trips, to ground myself.

-- After trips, to come back into my body.

Here’s the tell my family learned to watch for:

The higher my stress, the more serious the cooking.

(sooo I was a pressure cooker. eye roll, drum beat 🤣)

If a whole chicken was roasting at 7am, a big trip was coming and I was dreading it.

When I got off the road, I set the cooking utensils down. 
The recipe books went back on the shelf. 
The stove cooled off.

Dusting it all off this year.

I grew up in an Italian family.

Food was never just food.

It's connection and belonging.

Garlic and onions sautéing in olive oil isn’t just a smell to me.

It’s a memory track of my life.

For the last few years cooking became practical.

Weeknight dinners.
Holiday cook fests only.

Until yesterday.

As we welcomed a long weekend and falling snow, I made one of my Italian grandfather’s recipes.

My favorite dish as a kid: Pasta Fagioli. 

I spent 45 minutes in silence chopping the battuto.

Just rhythm.
Texture.
Smell.

One bite of the pasta fagioli and I was back in my grandparents’ house.

Every comforting memory came back.

(It felt like the magical realism of the book/movie Like Water for Chocolate one taste, all the feelings.) 

Here’s the lesson I am carrying into the year ahead:

We live in our heads all week.

Strategy
Pressure
Problem-solving

*Thinking* our way through everything.

But there are five other senses available to us.

Touch
Smell
Taste
Sound
Sight

When we tap into them, we access parts of our creativity that thinking alone can’t reach.

Sometimes the reset we need isn’t another insight.

It’s a knife
A cutting board
And garlic hitting warm olive oil

It's getting out of our heads so when we come back into them, we are rejuvenated and fresh. 

📌 What dish takes you back to childhood?? (I will put my grandfathers Pasta Fagioli recipe below)

Happy weekend.
Stay storied. 

PS This is what chatgpt thinks I'd look like cooking in an Italian kitchen. Sign me up!

I built my biz for the underdogs.

And if I’m honest… I still feel like one.

That identity runs deep.

I’ve always been wired to:

-- Fight for the overlooked

-- Bet on the underestimated

-- Stand for the people others ignore


I take pride in that.

My purpose is there.

But here’s the question I’ve been sitting with lately:

Can I stop being the underdog
and still stand for them?  

Can I serve challenger brands and founders while owning my achievements and success?

Can I acknowledge there's more I want to do and achieve without entirely discounting what I have accomplished?

---

Because at some point, there's a shift.

One day you realize:

-- People reference my work before I enter the room

-- The rooms I once fought to get into now invite me in

-- The voice I worked so hard to claim now carries weight

And still…

My nervous system hasn’t caught up.

---

I spent so many years scrapping.

Proving I belonged

Fighting to be taken seriously

Climbing toward success

That kind of fight is hard to turn off.

Even when my own personal fight has changed.

---

Here’s the tension I’m holding:

If I keep saying I am an underdog

If I stay in permanent resistance mode

If I never acknowledge my success


What message am I actually sending?

---

Maybe standing for the underdogs doesn’t mean staying one.

Maybe acknowledging progress doesn’t make me arrogant, it makes the path visible.

Maybe saying “this worked” gives the next generation of challengers something powerful:

Hope.
Positivity.
Proof.

---

So I’m learning a new posture.

Keep the heart of the challenger

Lose the need to bleed for legitimacy

Lead from consistent confidence instead of constant fight

(gah. that need to bleed for legitimacy is hiiiiiitting me 😭 )

---

I am not abandoning the underdogs.

I am showing them what’s possible.

And I’m learning that sometimes the bravest move isn’t to keep finding my fight 

It’s embracing my success to help the next generation fight theirs

---

If you’re a founder who grew up scrappy
and strugglednto let that scrappy go…

You’re not alone.

I’m right here too.

Scrappy and successful. Can they co-exist?

I believe in the power of LinkedIn. And the power of personal brand for finance peeps. If you do too, you need to meet this gal. 

If you are a client of Havener, or you work here, or you're a London friend who attended our LinkedIn for Fin breakfast event last year, then you already know Anna Robinson and you also know... she is a force 

Few fun facts to go with this flowers post (plus a give for you): 

--Anna and I met 25 years ago on the soccer field in San Diego. We've been bests ever since. ⚽

-- Before Anna joined Havener, she was a project manager at a software engineering firm, and a lead stylist at StitchFix. She also has a psych degree. So she can crush a to-do list while analyzing you and your wardrobe simul. (Trust me when I say this is an invaluable combination. 🤣)

-- Anna built my personal brand from scratch. She was a better me than me. Especially because she was brave when I couldn't be. I wouldn't have trusted anyone else. I am forever grateful. 

And now the give for you:

-- Anna and one of my other faves Mary Mack hosted a webinar in December on LinkedIn for Fund Managers that had over 250 attendees. 

-- It's now available on demand for you for no exchange of dollar bills. 

(We live our core value of GoGiver at Havener)

So if you are like me and have a differentiated point of view, and you believe LinkedIn is powerful, and you're intimidated even a little bit - grab this masterclass. 

https://lnkd.in/eg4MQeys

Put your trust in Anna. 

She won't let you down... on the soccer field, on social platforms, or in life. 

Flowers and so much love to you Anna
🙌💐♥️

👉 Who wants more of this? 

2026 is your year. Step out of the shadows my friends and lean in to LinkedIn

Every company is a media company. (imma keep saying it bc I want you to hearmenow) (and also flowers 💐)

Very few firms in finance embrace this idea that 'every company is a media company.'

Potomac is one. And they don't just kinda do the thang. They go all in.

Here's what hit me on my visit to their office:

1.  A bada$$ recording studio might feel like a luxury, but I'd argue at some point in the future, it might not be a luxury as much as a necessity.

2.  The trick with "every company is a media company" has less to do with the logo on the wall and more to do with the people who bring that logo to life. 

3.  I might invite myself back to "my" studio in "their" office v v soon. 🤣

Wouldn't it be cool if Billion $ Backstory became "in studio" podcast on the Potomac platform?

(Whaa? Who said that? me looking left looking right 😉)

If you want to catch the whole podcast - go to the platform that starts with You and ends with Tube. And I'll pop a shortcut in here asap.
https://lnkd.in/e_2VwDGe

Flowers and hugs and high fives across the miles to some of my all time faves
Manish Khatta and Christopher Norton and Charlotte Jarvis 

Thank you for being awesome 💐

If you don't know, now you know.
If you don't follow them, you should.

4 fact sheet changes that get more meetings

Fact sheets / tear sheets are doing too much… and somehow not enough.

They’re packed with data.
Light on words.
Heavy on brain.
Empty on heart.

And that’s the miss.

Typical fact sheets are a data dump in the smallest imaginable font.
Flip the script: It’s a highlight reel.

Its job with prospects is simple:

👉 Make them want a meeting.

Here are four fixes to move the needle:

---

1. Include real uniques + differentiators

Not the eye roll "everyone says that" kind

“Strong risk-adjusted returns”
“Experienced team”
“Disciplined process”

Let’s be honest, that’s table stakes. 
Fails the truism test.

The real differentiators tend to live in:

• Philosophy - how you think
• Process - how you execute
• Portfolio - how you build

Those are harder to copy.

And far more sustainable than performance soundbites.

---

2. Add a narrative summary

What’s the story?

• Why this strategy
• Why now
• And most importantly, why you

If allocators can’t understand the why in 90 seconds, they probs won't take a meeting.

Story creates intrigue and curiosity.
Data supports and makes it real

---

3. Be explicit about the role in the portfolio

This one gets mislabeled as “too retail.”

It’s not.

It’s useful.

Think of it as:

• Idea generation for analysts
• Context for non-investment stakeholders
• Clarity for busy humans

Don’t make people do the work.
They’re already overloaded.

That’s not retail.
That’s real life.

---

4. Show the people behind the product

Yes include fund mgrs on the fact sheet.
Now, add photos.

Names + faces + something human beyond alma maters.

People do business with people.
Still true. Always will be.

Pro-tip: If your photo makes you look like Severus Snape, time for a new one. Let's not scare the prospects. 😬

---

These small tweaks to a fact sheet don’t dumb anything down. 

Less data isn't a sign you aren't smart.
It's a sign you understand decision are more than numbers.

Fact sheets get a bad rap. 
But I think they have a starring role with a prospect.

They answer so what? Why should anyone care?

And when your fact sheet does that?

You don’t just get more meetings.
You get better ones.

📌 What's your 1 add for a fact sheet improvement list?

=
+ Fact sheets are part of a foundational franework at Havener, Investable Content™️ 

+ Bc collateral shouldn't just look pretty, it should play a role in your distribtiion

1 mistake I have made in sales & marketing (and how we can learn from it)

This mistake happens to asset management and wealth management clients too. 

It sneaks up on you. It happens slowly over time. (kind of like a big snowstorm 😂)

The mistake?

*Crafting messaging around what your client needs and skipping what they want.*

Our prospects are at Point A and they want to get to Point B. We know what they need and often that's what we "sell."

Let's take wealth managers:

Their prospects aren't jazzed to get a financial plan. No one wants more documents. (even if that's what they need)

They are jazzed for the financial freedom that plan will create. 
Or the second home they can buy
Or the business they can finally start
(insert the end goal that they want)

---

Talking about what a client needs isn't as hard-hitting or as heartfelt as if we talk about what they want, where they want to go.

Breaking it down for asset managers (and myself) at a crazy cold beach
❄️🎥🌊

👉 Here for your tips on staying aligned with the end game in our client's journey.

You can pitch performance and some people will buy it. (Let's unpack it tho...) 


Lots of ways to fundraise. 

If you've got great performance you might want to pitch it. Hard.

-- Redo materials! Put performance right up top front and center and lots of charts that show it too. 

-- Talk about how poorly your peers are doing to really shine a light on how you are crushing it.

-- Say your core values are to be number 1. (eek) 

Some investors (maybe lots) will buy that performance pomp and circumstance. 

You will cue up Mike Posner Top of the World. 

And then...

Something v normal will happen.

Your performance will slip 

Because you got too big too fast and can't move the portfolio

Or because the market did what the market does and wiled out on you

For whatever reason, you had a normal pull back 

And the investors who bought your out-performance?

Now they redeem your underperformance

The other investors in the fund will see that investors are redeeming, so they will hit the sell button too

And the virtuous performance upswing you raised into will whipsaw into a vicious redemption spiral

(if you've seen that movie before you know it's fun times 🙄(

So... yes, there are lots of ways to fundraise

Pitching performance is one of them

It can work

But it's worth pausing to reflect on what you will get and who you will get in that process

Hot dot chasers buy performance
They redeem it too

Classic tale of be careful what you wish for

My POV: pitch forever vs fleeting

Will be breaking it down this week. 

We can be proud of our results and still focus on the sustainable things that got us there. 

Might take longer but might be worth it in the long run.

1 big change to our target market of asset managers and wealth managers - might inspire you to refine yours.

We just wrapped our 2-day annual planning session.

In a crazy awesome Newport mansion
Because environment shapes thinking and we wanted to dream bigger.

But instead of going bigger with our target market...

We went smaller.

We went clearer.

Check it:

---

In defining target market, most of us will start with demographics.

• AUM
• Titles
• Firm size
• Geography

The challenge is we can get stuck in a big sea of "everyone is our market."

Demographics can be quicksand.

Predictable
Generic 
Crowded

---

The real leverage in target market lives in psychographics.

That’s where alignment happens.

We already knew our ideal clients:

• Share our core values
• Believe in the power of story
• Want a more human way to grow

What we hadn’t explicitly named?

---

Personal brand.

Not just believing in story,
but believing they are part of it.

We have it in our differentiators as a firm but we didn't have it in our target market. 

So we refined. 

Our ideal client has a founder or C-suite leader committed to

•  Building a personal brand
•  Showing up on LinkedIn
•  Being seen

A  person who is jazzed to become a thought leader in their unique area of expertise

---

That small shift will change everything

• Who we say yes to
• How the work lands
• The results we can create

Because story doesn’t work in the shadows.

---

Big dreams don’t require broader markets.

They require braver ones.
 
And braver can mean smaller focus. 

📌 Have you found what a client believes (or doesn't) matters in your target market (maybe more than we realize)?

=
+ If you want help on LinkedIn in 2026, I got some things cooking. DM me and I will add you (or your team) 👀 to our wait list 🙌

5 filters to set goals for an amazing year of growth. 
 
We use these with clients in annual business strategy sessions. 

And we use them on ourselves. 

---

1️⃣ Did we reverse engineer from long-term vision to short-term goals?

- Start with the 10-year vision

- Pull it into 3 years

- Then 1 year

- Then the next 90 days

Humans can focus and execute well for shorter sprints (quarter by quarter).

Design our goals such that if we hit quarterly goals, we will be on track to hit annual, if we hit annual, we will be on track to hit 3 yr and so on.

Set the long term vision
Work back to the year
Then play the next 90 days like they are high stakes. (cuz they are)

---

2️⃣ Are we driving forward with metrics we can actually control? 

Goals that depend on other people? Rough.

Instead, ask: 
what’s the step right before the result we want? 
The one we can ensure we hit. 

We can’t control outcomes.
We can control inputs.

That’s where progress lives.

---

3️⃣ Are we measuring backwards to protect confidence and juice momentum?

We’re excellent at this pattern:

Hit the goal

Move the goalpost

Feel behind again

When the reality is we just accomplished something meaningful... but we missed it.

Measuring backwards is a pause.

It reminds us:

- how far we’ve come

- what’s already working

- why we’re capable of the next level


For my quant friends, confidence compounds too. 😘

---

4️⃣ Are we trying to do less better? (bc less is more)

1–3 big things

Not 5–7 “important” things

(forget 10 omg 10 is an anxiety spiral)


We’d rather:

do 3 things exceptionally well

than 5 things halfway decent


Focus isn’t restrictive.
It’s freeing.

We said no to some really cool business opportunities for 2026 bc we want to focus on our core programs. 

It's the same reason we are pausing on our annual summit too. 

Tough choices but necessary. 

(I am learning and still a work in progress on this one.)

---

5️⃣ Does it light us up?

Seriously - a fun filter 😉

Is the goal interesting?
Is it meaningful?
Is it fun? 

This one matters more than we admit.

If it doesn’t make us:

energized

enthusiastic

eager to start the day


Why are we doing it?

Sustainable growth requires emotional fuel.
Or we will just be "who cares-ing" the year away.

(I speak from experience on this. Real talk.)

---

These 5 filters help our clients and us architect a banger of a year in 2026:

Clear goals
→ fewer priorities
→ controllable metrics
→ visible progress
→ positive energy

📌 Which one hits for you, any to add?

Happy New Year, Friends. Game on!

One segment of asset management is under pressure (it's not who you think.) Here are 3 things I am seeing in the market r n.

For years, the bigs have taken market share and gotten bigger. 

☠️ Arsenic in your coffee: that’s still happening. 

But probs not a surprise. 

You might think the group under real pressure is the boutiques... it's not. 

It’s the middle.

Because they aren’t the biggest.
And they aren’t the specialist.

They’re caught in between

Without a strong narrative
Without knowing who they are

If we use ICI data as a proxy, middle tier firms had 21% market share in 2005 in 2023 it was 16% (in a $30 trillion market a 5% drop really hurts)

(lots of things happening behind those numbers for sure)

In addition to stats, I think many of us in the trenches see/feel this pressure on middle market asset managers

(these are not small firms. Middle market mgrs could have 50B, 100B plus)

Here’s why the middle is bleeding:

→ 1. Scale without advantage

The middle is big enough to be a complex
but not big enough to win on ridic low fees, crazy strong brand, or massive distribution muscle.

Too big to stay focused and niche, but not big enough to use the playbook the bigs do. 

→ 2. Breadth without belief

Too many products.
Too many “capabilities.”
Not enough clarity.

Middle market often has lost sight of "what do we want to be known for??"

When we can’t explain why we exist, our prospects and clients can't figure it out either. 

→ 3. Story drift

Boutiques sell focus.
The bigs sell safety.
The middle often sells… nothing all that memorable, sadly. (sorry if that stings a little)
And in a world of choice, forgettable is fatal.

---

The takeaway:

Middle isn’t really a size problem.
It’s more of an identity problem.

Own a lane
Own a point of view
Own a story the market can repeat

If we don't get messaging and narrative right, market dynamics and... gravity... take over. 

Stay storied. Or in this case, maybe it's time to restory. 

👉 Curious if other people are seeing the same pressure on the mid tier asset mgrs. My gut says it might be similar in wealth too?

RIA organic growth systems | Fully-managed digital marketing/lead gen | Turnkey talent/software/design/ad spend/web dev/content = dead simple | Compliance focused |🗓️Secure Your Free Exec Workshop Below ⬇️

For decades, Advisories and Wealth Management Firms have been shuttered from marketing online properly. Shackled by regulation and blinded to the true essence of a great online presence:

Activities and assets that leverage the fundamentals and align with your principles.

Your industry has been tirelessly digging for gold - sweat-riddled and panic stricken - when it was never buried to begin with.

This has birthed a strange, twisted obsession with weird silver bullets; wacky, unsustainable shiny objects; online RIA directories that only represent a competitive parity; and digital marketing fads that only burn your goodwill alive.

Ironic, given that your principles are to: 
✅ ensure comprehensive fundamentals are in place
✅ respond to market activity with equanimity
✅ leverage the magic of compounding
✅ plan over long-term horizons

Yet when it comes to digital marketing and trying to grow AUM online?

Raise your hand if you've been on a roller coaster of crackpot, digital marketing tom-foolery for two decades🎢😱

Your firm deserves to market online using a diverse array of rock-solid tools and tactics, built upon a foundation of ABSOLUTELY NAILED FUNDAMENTALS.

Without the fundamentals nailed (warning: they are actually quite boring and mundane), you're running a race against Olympians with lead in your sneakers.

I'm here to pull back the wool, and show you the "secrets" that have been hiding in plain sight all along. They are no less principled than your approach to advising your clients. 

For too long, the SEC's tight grip on marketing rules was unfair, restricting you from using the most powerful, effective, and persuasive tools in the marketing toolbelt.

In 2022, the SEC officially rolled out the new marketing rule...

...but the industry is still hypnotized by shiny objects and silver bullets, having never truly understood the fundamentals of a great online presence.

So if you're ready to finally take those marketing training wheels off... 

If you're ready to stop posting links to vanilla Broadridge articles on LinkedIn that only get punished by the algorithm and drive zero engagement...

If you're ready to quit the weird silver bullets, lackluster directories, and 3rd party lead gen and appointment setters...

If you're sick of your website's "book a free consultation" button that never gets clicked...

And if you're ready to FINALLY take your own advice and build something comprehensive and diversified, to build a better future, just like you inspire and assist so many others in doing...

DM me "fundamentals".

taplio

The Battle

Stacy Havener

John Swystun

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taplio

The Battle

Stacy Havener

John Swystun

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Stacy Havener's LinkedIn Performance

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